Category: 2017

During the holiday season, many of us buy, and eat, way more food than we need. We may not think about all the food we waste, but a group of tweens, working with SheKnows Hatch Kids for a campaign for the Ad Council, have uncovered plenty of waste and are becoming ‘food warriors’ because of their newfound knowledge.

Food waste is a growing problem in the United States, with 40% of food wasted in households across the country. SaveTheFood.com estimates that 20% of the food we buy is never eaten, and 90% of us throw food away too soon.

To bring awareness to this issue, SheKnows Media and Ad Council partnered to create a new Food Waste Warriors video. In the three-and-a-half-minute video, teens and tweens who are part of SheKnows’ #HatchKids initiative – a digital storytelling and media literacy program for kids and their parents – captured video of food being wasted in their own households. The video is ripe with funny yet poignant and insightful moments when the kids confront their parents about food being wasted, and how they would resolve the problem.

One kid finds a full carton of walnuts, and when he confronts his mother regarding why they were in the trash, she said it was because she didn’t serve them because she thought somebody in the house might be allergic, though none were. Another shows off her grandmother’s “show turkey” that is barely eaten.

All end up being more informed about the food that is wasted and many worked to find uses for nearly expired foods, and more proclaimed themselves “food warriors” to help people understand the problem and search for solutions.

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How a bucket of fried chicken came to symbolize a magical sense of no-questions-asked familial harmony in Japan.

At 3 in the morning on Christmas Eve, my mother woke up shaking and unable to breathe. After several minutes of trying to calm her down, we pulled on our coats and filed into the damp December night, hoping to flag a taxi. We caught one outside of a 24/7 convenience store, hailed it with wildly flailing arms, then piled in. On the way to the hospital, my sister and I held my mother’s hands in the back of the car, rubbing tiny concentric circles into her back.

My family had arrived in Japan earlier that day to visit my grandparents, and it turns out that emergency rooms feel the same in Japan as they do everywhere else: The lighting is garish, the waiting interminable, the vending machine sparsely stocked. Next to us, a miserable-looking girl with an intestinal infection vomited quietly into a plastic bag every few minutes. Everything seemed vaguely grimy and overexposed. A few hours and a barrage of tests later, my mother emerged from the examination room while a young doctor explained that it was most likely a panic attack.

Bone-tired, eyes blinking away a grainy film, our bodies heavy and sluggish, it didn’t feel like Christmas Eve at all. But then we remembered Kentucky Fried Chicken. For years, like many Japanese people, my family has eaten fried chicken on Christmas Eve, but this year was different: Instead of generic supermarket fried chicken, for the first time ever, we had reserved a coveted KFC Christmas Barrel.

Muchhas beenwritten about Japan’s predilection for Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas, but most of it fails to understand just what it is that a cardboard bucket of fried chicken on Christmas exemplifies — KFC, as a Westernized holiday ideal, has come to represent a culturally aligned yearning for a no-questions-asked familial harmony.

Precisely how that happened is opaque. On the website of the Mitsubishi Corporation, which first brought KFC to Japan in 1970 for the Osaka World Expo, it’s noted that by 1974 the Christmas Party Barrel was widely promoted, thus “beginning the uniquely Japanese lifestyle of eating KFC on Christmas.” In some articles, former KFC Japan CEO Takeshi Okawara says that the idea of Kentucky for Christmas came to him in a dream. In others, KFC for Christmas is proffered as the closest substitute to turkey for lonely expats.

More recently, in an interview with Japanese newspaper the Sankei Shimbun, Okawara said it was none of those things: Instead, he told a story about a local kindergarten near a recently opened Aoyama branch of KFC in 1973, who came to him with a request. In exchange for ordering Kentucky Fried Chicken for their annual Christmas party, would Okawara dress up as Santa Claus and visit their classroom? He agreed, telling the Sankei that the children greeted him with such delight that he could do things he normally wasn’t comfortable doing, like dancing around the room. Word spread, and neighboring schools also started ordering KFC for Christmas, hoping a costumed Okawara would deliver the fried chicken. Okawara was eventually interviewed on TV about the connection between KFC and Christmas, and when asked if Americans ate fried chicken for Christmas, he answered, “Yes, of course!”

The belief apparently took root from there, adding itself to the small pile of Western holidays that Japanese people hold dear, including Valentine’s Day and more recently, Halloween. In a country where New Year’s celebrations dominate and the morning of December 26 means a swift and brutal decoration change from ribboned wreaths to the traditional shimekazari, a rope made out of rice straw, hung in doorways, KFC became the most convenient avenue for enjoying a Westernized Christmas celebration, with a defining sensory experience of eating hot, American-style fried chicken.

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McCann, led by its London division, has won the global advertising account of Pernod Ricard-owned Scotch whiskey brand Chivas Regal, following a competitive four-way pitch process.

Along with the IPG creative shop, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Wieden + Kennedy participated in the pitch, according to a person close to the matter.

“The McCann team impressed [us] with their fresh creative and strategic thinking, which we believe will help take Chivas to the next level,” said Richard Black, Chivas Regal global marketing director. “We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”

The global account used to belong to Havas Worldwide. The agency, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was responsible for Chivas Regal’s 2014 “Win the Right Way” campaign, which honored entrepreneurs that operate their businesses to better society.

Founded in 1909, Chivas Regal describes itself as the “world’s first luxury whiskey” and a “truly global brand,” having a presence in 150 countries.

“We are over the moon with our appointment on the Chivas brand,” McCann London CEO Alex Lubar added. “To date, the team has been a wonderfully collaborative partner and the opportunities for the brand moving forward are immense.”

A McCann spokesperson said the pitch was led by its London shop but that work will be handled by several of its global offices.

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The fried-chicken chain just picked Christopher Boyer, an unknown actor, to play the part of Colonel Sanders in its latest twist on the campaign from Wieden + Kennedy. Why choose an unknown? Because Boyer is playing the role of the Value Colonel—and KFC says not using a celebrity this time will help the brand save money so it can “continue to offer complete meals that won’t break the bank.”

KFC says Boyer has mostly had bit parts in TV shows over the years, including roles like “man in mattress store,” “professor” and “old seasoned farmer.” Boyer actually auditioned for the role of Colonel Sanders in 2015 when KFC began casting for its Colonel campaign—though the company claims not to recall that.

“After casting a wide net to find our next Colonel, everywhere from big-shot Hollywood agents to postings on job boards and even Craigslist, we were pleasantly surprised when we found Boyer,” said KFC U.S. director of advertising George Felix. “Much like the Colonel, he’s held a lot of forgettable roles before becoming the world’s most famous chicken salesman. Heck, he even auditioned for the role of the Colonel several years ago, and we didn’t remember him.”

Boyer, who hails from Hagerstown, Maryland, once owned a restaurant known for fried chicken, though he was encouraged in the press release to admit it “wasn’t quite as good as KFC.” “When I was preparing to audition for the Colonel role in 2015, I dug out my string tie from the back of my closet and looked up Harland Sanders on the internet,” Boyer said in a statement. “That’s when I first found out about the Colonel’s incredible life story, so I donned an accent for the audition and gave it my best shot. Now two years later, I am very grateful to be playing the role as the common man’s Colonel.”

You’ll notice, though, that KFC is having its fried chicken and eating it, too, by including a cameo by Wayne Knight (aka, Newman on Seinfeld) as a celebrity colonel in the intro spot above. “Despite our insistence that Knight was too much of a celebrity to play the Value Colonel, he still decided to be on set during filming in search of free chicken,” the brand joked.

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For the first time, Pringles will be making a national appearance in the Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4, with the debut of a new campaign—”Flavor Stacking.” According to the Kellogg’s snack food company, the 30-second spot, dropping in the first half of the Big Game, will “introduce Americans to an entirely new way to enjoy their Pringles.”

“The Pringles Super Bowl advertisement is an opportunity to show people a fun, new way to enjoy their favorite Pringles flavors with their family and friends,” said Yuvraj Arora, Kellogg’s U.S. Snacks’ senior vice president of marketing. “Whether there are four people at home or 30 people at your party, this idea’s ‘Now, why didn’t I think of that?’ spirit brings a whole new way to snack during the Big Game this year.”

The company said in an announcement that the Super Bowl weekend is historically a strong one for Pringles sales, with them “well above normal levels.”

Grey Group creative director Brian Platt added in the statement that the campaign is “hilarious.” A teaser has not yet been released so we will have to wait and see if that proves true.

The TV spot will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including digital and social media.